


Breathing

by DeepDisiresLonging



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Food mention, Home Invasion, Mention of PTSD nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 04:18:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17114324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeepDisiresLonging/pseuds/DeepDisiresLonging
Summary: You and Bucky reminisce about how you guys got together while you think the other is asleep.





	Breathing

|Bucky’s POV

She was so warm lying next to me. Y/N always found a way to curl into my chest, no matter where she went to sleep. I pushed her hair out of her face as gently as I could with my hand. The metal one I liked to keep under the pillows. Out of the way. Out of site. Sometimes out of mind.

Y/N sighed, her warm breath tickling my chest. Her eyes flicked back and forth under her lids. What was she dreaming?

Dreaming. That’s how all this started.

The walls were almost as thin as paper. So when I had nightmares, she heard. She’d confessed at first she didn’t know what to do. Y/N would sit up in bed and start talking to me. Easing my mind. Calming me down. I didn’t matter where I was. Germany. Poland. Russia. All of them. Her voice would cut through the gunshots, the fires, the blood. I would hear her through all of it.

One night was worse than others. The process and the pain of having my prosthetic put on raged through me. I thrashed in my restraints, throwing Hydra agents away from me till they shot me up with something to knock me out.

I’d given Y/N a key at some point. She used it to get into my apartment and shake me awake.

The fear in her eyes when I gripped her throat.

She stroked my flesh arm till I was conscience enough to release her. She gasped for breath but didn’t move away.

“It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Then she curled into my chest and breathed against me till I fell asleep.

I still have nightmares, but they are few and far between. Now when I wake up, I see her sleeping peacefully. And I’m home.

Y/N hummed in her sleep. I pulled her closer to me and rested my head on top hers, feeling us breathe in tandem.

|Reader’s POV

Bucky pulled you closer in his sleep. Instantly you were awake and ready to help him through a nightmare. Instead, you felt him rest his head on top of yours. His breathing was even. Not a nightmare. Just a shift.

His chest rose and fell, and occasionally bumped your nose. If it had been closer to morning you would have giggled. But he didn’t sleep enough, though he was getting better. Sleeping next to him was better than trying to wake him up through the wall.

That wall. It started the whole thing.

You remember you’d just gotten out of the shower. The towel you’d used to dry off was next wrapped around your head, leaving you exposed as you figured out what you were going to wear that day. It was your apartment, after all. The sounds coming from next door suggested your new neighbor was moving in. You were thinking about grabbing cookies or something on your way home to welcome him when there was a series of crashes and curses. A few seconds later Bucky came crashing through the wall, landing hard on his back.

In the split second it took for you to worry if he was okay, he looked up and probably saw all the way to Panama.

“Oh. You’re naked! I’m so sorry.”

He’d sputtered around for a bit, turning to face away from you once he got to his feet. Then he saw the hole. There was a new string of curses as you giggled and covered yourself up with the towel. You guys planned how you were going to fix the wall (without the landlady knowing) over whatever each of you had in your fridges, which was Chinese take-out and Jack Daniels. You had put up a blanket while he waited for the materials to come in.

Then that night happened.

You remembered hearing footsteps and thinking it was Bucky moving around, then a hand slipped over your mouth and something cold was pressed against your throat. The man asked for the quick location of your laptop and jewelry, but you barely heard him over your muffled screams.

A second later, Bucky came through the hole and had sent the man sailing across the room. He had handled all the police stuff and finally confessed to the landlady about the wall.

You wiggled and let out a shuddering breath.

“Hey, doll,” Bucky murmured. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about the guy that got into my apartment.”

Bucky hummed. “If there hadn’t been a hole in the wall, there was going to be one. Surprised the guy didn’t need stitches.”

You laughed. “I don’t think the police have ever shown up so quick.” You placed your hand on his chest and spun light circles into his skin. “You know you probably saved my life that night.”

Bucky sighed and ran his fingers through your hair. “Y/N, you’ve saved my life plenty more times. And I would live through every nightmare again if it means I still get to wake up next to you.”

You tried to hide the sniffle, but he heard it anyway. He pulled you up the pillows till you were nose-to-nose.

“Every last one of them,” he said, wiping away a tear with his thumb.

“Why me?”

Bucky chuckled. “Because you knew how much I loved Chinese food technically before we even met.” He smiled as you hickuped-giggled. “And you are kind when I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

“Bucky, you do deserve it. You will always deserve it.” You burrowed your face into his neck and whispered, “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too.” 

|Bucky POV

She was asleep again in minutes. Her breath tickled my ear and her leg was thrown over my hip. With a few more minutes her leg was curled to her chest with the other, and she had slid back down the pillows to her usual spot. Again, I gently pushed a lock of hair off her face.

I wouldn’t let this go in a million years. And I don’t plan on it. The little square red box in my sock drawer was hopefully going to ensure that.

If she said ‘yes.’


End file.
